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FRONTIER ARMY MODIFIED CIVIL WAR CARBINE CARTRIDGE
POUCH – CUT LOOP VARIATION AS USED DURING THE EARLY
INDIAN WAR YEARS: A field modification of the
standard Civil War Carbine Cartridge box and identical
in function to the more familiar “Cut Loop” Dyer Carbine
Ammunition Pouches, these two specimens are the only two
known examples of this rare box to have surfaced in
modern collections.
Used in the field in combination with the soldier made
“Fair Weather Christian” looped cartridge belts, these
boxes were modified by cutting the belt loops, punching
holes in the cut ends and rejoining them with a leather
thong. This allowed the belt loops of the pouch to be
laced over the wider cartridge belt, providing the
soldier with an additional quantity of ammunition. The
buckles on the bottom of the body of the box that
secured the previously used shoulder strap were removed
as superfluous weight and unnecessary appendages.
While these boxes were originally designed and issued
with the variety of .50 to .54 caliber Civil War
carbines, and were certainly issued with the Spencer
Carbines still being issued to the Cavalry in the
1865-1872 period, they will also accommodate the .50-45
and .50-70 Government rounds and it stands to reason
that they would have been used with the Indian War
period Sharps, and the Springfield and Ward Burton Model
1870 Carbines as well.
That so few of these
modified accoutrements survive today can be easily
explained when viewed through the Ordnance Department’s
process of issue and return. When the units received
new issues of current equipment and returned the
obsolete accoutrements and equipment to the Ordnance
Depots, those pieces that had been modified such as
these boxes were looked upon by the Ordnance Department
personnel as damaged beyond repair, or the necessary
repairs to return the item to its original configuration
were not cost effective – especially since it was
obsolete equipment. It is very likely the modified
pieces were condemned and destroyed with the other
unserviceable equipment, and they simply did not survive
to be funneled into the surplus sales that would
eventually lead to the collectors’ market.
The small number of surviving modified accoutrements
serves as quiet testimony of the efforts of the soldiers
and the Ordnance Department to adapt stocks of surplus
material to suit the needs encountered on the Frontier.
In spite of the number of these boxes that must have
been modified during the period, surviving examples such
as these pieces are rare and they are a fascinating
field of collecting in their own right. These
interesting boxes will display very well in a grouping
of early Indian War accoutrements and arms.
Each of these boxes is described and priced individually below
with accompanying photographs.
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